‘No more traffic deaths,’ SF residents chant in...

1of11Demonstrators block traffic to demand that the city make Tenderloin streets safer for pedestrians.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

2of11Supervisor Matt Haney, whose district includes the Tenderloin, joins protesters at the site where a 12-year-old boy was struck and seriously injured by a man driving under the influence.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

3of11Proteswters gather at Golden Gate Avenue and Leavenworth Street.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

4of11Residents gather in a Tenderloin intersection where a 12-year-old boy was struck by a man driving without a license and driving under the influence.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

5of11Larry Williamson (left) and Jordan Davis hold a banner during a protest in the Tenderloin.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

6of11Lisa Cook (center), who was hit by a car twice in 2017, came out to support the protesters.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

7of11Residents gather in a Tenderloin intersection where a 12-year-old boy was struck by a man driving without a license and driving under the influence.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

8of11Chalk outline represent those killed by vehicles in the Tenderloin.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

9of11Siu Cheung (center) hits a gong to signify the start of the protest.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

10of11Chalk outlines represent pedestrians killed in the Tenderloin.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to the Chronicle

11of11Police block traffic at during the protest at Golden Gate Avenue and Leavenworth Street.Photo: Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

Demanding safer crossings for pedestrians in San Francisco, activists took over a Tenderloin intersection Friday afternoon and sprawled out on the hot pavement, outlining their bodies in white chalk to call attention to those who have been hit by vehicles in the bustling San Francisco neighborhood.

“We know there are solutions that will save lives, that will prevent injuries,” said Curtis Bradford, co-chair of community advocacy coalition Tenderloin People’s Congress, a coalition of Tenderloin-based groups. The city knows that they are possible. The (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) knows that they are possible. So why aren’t we doing them now? Why are we waiting until somebody dies in an intersection?”

Bradford wiped sweat from his brow and shouted into a microphone a series of demands for city leaders and the SFMTA. Among the demands:

• Hiring a city employee to educate people on traffic safety in the neighborhood

• Creating four-way stops at every corner

• Providing counseling for witnesses and victims of “traumatic incidents” in the area

Supervisor Matt Haney, whose District 6 includes the Tenderloin, told demonstrators: “I’m committed to working with all of you.”

He led the group in a chant of, “Whose streets? Our streets!” before calling the recent traffic-related deaths a “traffic emergency,” and a crisis that disproportionately affects communities of color, senior residents and children.

“People in this neighborhood are tired... of stepping outside … and seeing members of our community get hit by cars on what feels like a weekly basis,” Haney said.

Lorenzo Listana, 59, gripped a poster board with the demands printed on white sheets of paper, and told The Chronicle that motorists treat the Tenderloin as an extension of the freeway, instead of as a neighborhood bustling with pedestrians and bicyclists.

“We have seniors here, we have kids here, and people should respect that,” Listana said. “Police need to be proactive about ticketing and the deaths just need to stop.”

For Kathy Wolfe, of San Francisco, the traffic incidents stir up her own trauma. She was walking on 16th and Mission streets roughly 25 years ago when a car struck her, sending her 15 feet through the air. She sustained a concussion and said she still struggles with the post traumatic stress of the incident.

“What brought me here was the kid, the 12-year-old boy who was hit,” Wolfe said. “You don’t realize how much it affects you until all these people started getting hit and dying. I’m just here to raise awareness.”

The youngest participant was Elijah Washington, 11, of San Francisco. He lived in the Tenderloin up until last year, and told the hushed crowd of one experience that still sticks in his mind: He was crossing an intersection with his mother when they saw a vehicle barreling down the street.

“I didn’t see no police. They didn’t give no tickets. Nothing. There could have been more people laying down right here,” Washington said, pointing to the chalk outlines in the street. “There probably are going to be more deaths, and we need to stop that.”

Lauren Hernández joined The San Francisco Chronicle in 2018. She covers crime, mayhem and breaking news. Previously, she was a breaking news reporter for the USA TODAY Network’s Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon. She graduated from San Jose State University in 2015 with a bachelor’s of science in journalism and a minor in philosophy. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She is also a licensed drone pilot through the Federal Aviation Administration.